Story Series Spotlights Independent School Excellence, says Director

Story Series Spotlights Independent School Excellence, says Director

OACS News series shares new families’ hopes, experiences

Monday January 24, 2011 -- Jennifer Neutel

When reading stories featured in a series engaging new families attending Ontario Alliance of Christian Schools (OACS) member schools, Sharon Roebbelen says she was excited to see the consistency in the areas being recognized as “making these schools remarkable.”

As the director of communications and admissions at King's Christian Collegiate in Oakville, a member of the OACS, Roebbelen shared her feedback on the series with Axiom News.

The series has been featured on the OACS website since the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year, interviewing families who have recently chosen to attend an independent school on their hopes and expectations.

“I think people who haven’t been exposed to Christian education may not realize the excellence with which things are done in these Christian schools,” says Roebbelen.

“You read these articles and you realize these schools are doing a great job with these students, this is not rinky-dink stuff here, these schools are running very professional institutions where the outcomes are very, very successful and the students are doing very well and the parents are pleasantly surprised,” she says.

Roebbelen noted some themes emerging from the stories, including the skilled and caring teachers at the schools.

“You get a sense that teachers are passionate, that teachers are excited to be there, they love what they are doing and that really comes across in how they deal with the students. I think that parents are picking up on that,” she says.

Another takeaway from the stories is the immediate outcomes parents are seeing in their child’s attitude and behaviour when starting at an OACS school.

“These students are coming away from a very brief experience at some of these Christian schools and just being lighter, they feel safe, they feel empowered, they feel like they can be themselves, they feel like they’ve had this fresh start and it’s this sense of hope,” says Roebbelen.

She adds you don’t get the sense from the stories that students are being dragged to school but just the opposite — they look forward to it.

She says it is heartening to read about other schools encouraging students to live beyond their own personal success and care for others, noting this character development is something King’s puts a lot of effort towards.

Writer Bio

Jennifer Neutel

Jennifer Neutel is a Story Advocate and Generative Journalist at Axiom News. She completed her Bachelor of Journalism at Carleton University in Ottawa in 2006, and joined Axiom News in 2007. She has taken on a variety of roles at Axiom including new social media intiatives and has a passion for creating strengths-based questions that can lead to positive change.